This is the fifth in a multi-part series based on a long interview with Todd Nelson, the coach of the Edmonton Oilers’ AHL affiliate Oklahoma City Barons.

Barry Trotz is best known as the head coach of the Nashville Predators, having held that position since the team’s inaugural NHL season. Before taking that job, he apprenticed as an AHL head coach with the Portland Pirates, guiding them to a 1994 Calder Cup victory.

Oklahoma City coach Todd Nelson was part of that team, and to this day cites Trotz as an important figure in his development as a player and as a coach.

“Barry’s a very big influence on me, he said. “I thought Barry was ahead of his time when he coached us in Portland – ahead of his time meaning he had good structure to his game plan when I didn’t really have a lot of it my first three years.”

Nelson, who at that point was something of a minor-league veteran, discovered he still had things to learn when he went to play for Trotz.

“I was like Anton [Lander], an assistant captain at 22 or 23, and you get to that point and sometimes you think that you know it all,” he said. “I went to Barry – Barry and [assistant coach] Paul Gardner did a great job with our hockey team, we won the Cup that year – but he taught me good structure, checking systems. We did a lot of work with video; we didn’t have that before. It was a time in the minors where video wasn’t really prevalent.”

The lessons that Nelson learned 20 years ago as a player are still helping him as a coach.

“Still to this day I take a lot of the stuff that Barry used to do with us in practice and I incorporate it into our scheme of things,” he acknowledged. “Barry had a very big influence on me because I thought that his coaching style was fair and honest and he held us accountable. I’m not exactly the same as Barry but I kind of modeled my coaching style after him; he was very influential.”

One of the interesting things about Trotz is that when he moved to Nashville he gave opportunities to a number of minor-league players who had spent time with him in Portland. Andrew Brunette, who had played with Nelson under Trotz on two editions of the Pirates, was one. Nelson’s brother Jeff, who played nine games for the Predators but didn’t have long-term success, was another.

As Nelson sees it, it’s easy for a coach to take a chance on a player he has familiarity with because there’s already a relationship there. It’s something the Oilers have done this year with a number of ex-Toronto Marlies.

“In the case of Will [Acton] and [Mark] Fraser and Ryan Hamilton and Ben Scrivens, Dallas has worked with him before so he has that trust in them and they trust him. We talked about that, right?,” he said, referencing an earlier part of the conversation. “He developed that with them, he knows what he’s going to get. If he sees that a piece can help the team up there, or having a guy like Ryan down here, he knows what he’s getting. I understand the value of a player that’s played for you before.”

It’s something Nelson might have done himself in the NHL, and something he’s attempted to do even at the AHL level.

“If I move on wherever, and I’m looking for certain players, I know Teemu Hartikainen, Magnus [Paajarvi], all the guys here [this season],” he said. “There’s guys I’ve coached in the past that I’ve tried to get here, guys like Nathan Oystrick, Clay Wilson, guys I’ve won with.”

That familiarity can also be an asset behind the bench. When Trotz made the jump to Nashville, he brought Portland assistant Paul Gardner with him.

“It’s the same thing with staffs,” Nelson agreed. “If a coach is able to hire his own staff, he’s going to want people that he trusts and that he’s worked with where they’ve done something special. That’s why John Anderson brought me up with him to Atlanta. We had success in Chicago together; I was only there two years [2006-08, with the Wolves winning the Calder Cup in the latter year] but he felt he wanted me by his side in Atlanta.”

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